The swift adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the realm of mental health care has altered the nature of offering psychological assistance, especially to digitally native groups, including Millennials and Generation Z who might have limitations in terms of accessibility, affordability, stigma, and insufficiency of trained personnel. The traditional model of therapy, although effective, is usually constrained by the accessibility, cost, stigma, and the lack of trained staff. Conversational agents, predictive analytics, digital mental-health applications, and emotion-recognition systems have become the scalable options and the alternative complements to traditional therapy, which is AI-driven. This term paper will analyze the effectiveness of AI-mediated mental health interventions in comparison to the conventional therapy models, with particular focus on Millennials and Gen Z. It will be based on the available literature on AI applications, ethical concerns, digital mental health platforms, and generational behavioral trends that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness, benefits, risks, and long-term implications of AI-mediated mental health care. Another issue discussed in the paper is whether AI interventions only augment the therapeutic process or could completely transform the system of delivering mental health. The evidence indicates that AI applications enhance access, early identification, personalization, and user interaction in younger generations, though the threats to ethical responsibility, data security, algorithm prejudice, emotional genuineness, and overreliance are still present. The paper concludes that AI cannot completely substitute human therapists, but it can play a very significant role in improving the mental health outcomes provided there is a responsible use of AI in the framework of a hybrid care.
Nadiger et al. (Sun,) studied this question.